And marketing, public relations, and advertising began the “who owns this” fight.

But we’re entering a new year – a year where all of these things are meeting their mid-level experience.

So it’s time to think about the key skills you need to have going into 2012 and beyond.

Search Engine Optimization. It makes sense that a lot of the content that is being produced comes out of PR. We’ve always been writers and readers. Now we have to take that skill and learn how to optimize our content so it’s being crawled by the search engines, while also being highly valuable and engaging.

Search Engine Marketing. This doesn’t typically fall into a PR pro’s toolbox because it’s pay-per-click and ads. But if you don’t have an understanding of how it works, how to do A/B testing, and what to do with the results, you won’t be #winning.

Content Marketing. Content goes beyond the white papers and advertorials we’re accustomed to doing. It’s videos and podcasts and blogs and emails and eBooks and more. The thing about content marketing is, if you don’t do it yourself, you’ll never truly understand it. Start yourself a personal Tumblr blog, get on WordPress, or even try out Blogger (though it’s not as good as the others). When you are developing content for something personal, you begin to understand the applications it has for clients, as well as how to build community.

Inbound Marketing. This goes hand-in-hand with content marketing because it all about the engaging and valuable content you’re creating. But it’s driving leads. So you’re going to write content that drives people to your site and encourages them to buy. Content that has headlines around what people search. For instance, one of our highest read blog posts is PR vs. marketing. That’s because people search that term and we have content to fulfill their need (plus a webinar they can buy on it).

Integration. 2012 is going to be the year of integration. PR is going to work with sales. Marketing is going to work with advertising. Customer service is going to work with product development. Instead of the silos we’re all accustomed to having, we’ll become a hub where information is shared and the left and right hands know what the other is doing. No longer will we have the “who owns this” fight.

Results. Gone are the days of media impressions and advertising equivalencies. You need to gain yourself some business knowledge (how the company makes money) and some marketing expertise (how to target audiences to buy, using owned media). This is the only way you’ll understand how the work you’re doing is not just generating sales, but creating profit.

It’s a great time to be in this industry. We get to learn, expand our horizons, and get out of our comfort boxes. So go do it!

Great post! Question: You said "Gone are the days of media impressions and advertising equivalencies..." I put together a media relations results recap every month for the non-profit I work for. They love the impressions and ad equivelencies info, but what else can or should I give them or tell them as a bottom line result that they can understand? Thanks!

Great post. I'm sticking it on my bulletin board so that I've mastered each one of these before 2012 ends :) Admittedly I'm a little weak on #2... of course I know what it does, but I'm in need of an intensive course to understand it better. Thanks for the kick in the pants.

Excellent post. Of the six skills integration seems to be the most important one. As technology and social media continues to evolve it is becoming increasingly more important that companies integrate their departments and communication tactics. In their book IMC-The Next Generation authors Don and Heidi Schultz do a great job discussing this topic in greater detail. However, it has been almost ten years since the publication of their book and we are just now starting to see companies shift from a traditional compartmentalized run organization to a more integrated run organization. I look forward to reading your book in May so I can further my knowledge on this subject.

I think these six embody a 7th implicit need: curiosity. As you touch on in #2, understanding adjacencies, interconnections and extensions to traditional "PR" makes one a far more valuable to clients, particularly those that place a premium on integrated marketing and communications. The ability to generate novel insights and draw unexpected connections can elevate and distinguish your practice and your brand.

I like how the article highlighted 'integration' simply because that is what is lacking in organizations today. Customer service does their thing and the marketing team does another. The sales team, HR and all the other departments act individually. It is about time they work together with a common 'social' strategy to reach out to their target audience collectively. The challenge is - "how".

@janwong In 1999 I worked as a webmaster for a manufacturing firm. I routinely met with department managers who wanted to put their own content on the website. Their ideas were circles and I told them the website could only allow for squares, so we met halfway and I created online what they wanted to show.

Nothing was social back then, unless a web visitor clicked an email link. But I helped enable departments to talk to each other for the benefit of the web visitor, because on the corporate website, all departments were equals.

@Elaine_Fogel I hope not! In 2000-2001 it was beginning to happen when the dot com bubble burst and we had the 9/11 tragedy. So everyone retreated to their corners to protect their fiefdoms. In the past three years, we've been working with clients to break down the silos. And a lot of the research I'm seeing from CMOs is they're trying to do the same. I think it's going to be imperative, if PR pros want to maintain their jobs.

@Ari Herzog I would think back then that was considered as being social since it involved both internal and external brand communications. You're right. The secret sauce for integration may still remain to enable departments communicate effectively and collaboratively to their audiences.

[…] to share how I continue to evolve from PR person to social media and digital marketing pro and acquiring the new skills that are needed for a long and successful career. Through this, I am sharing how-tos, observations […]